Brookhaven Natural Birth Center is looking for two or three new midwifery apprentices. We are looking for a passionate and committed person, willing to devote 2-4 years of time to learning and becoming a Certified Professional Midwife. This apprenticeship will begin immediately.

We will begin the interview process August 11, 2017. Please email cover letter, curriculum vitae, and two letters of recommendation to midwives@brookhavenbirth.com.

To provide more information about this position, the following is an from excerpt our apprentice handbook:

Apprenticeship at Brookhaven

Brookhaven Birth Center is a freestanding, CPM- run birthing center located in Harrisonburg, VA. We serve a diverse population of women, including old order Mennonites, Jehovah’s Witness, and Hispanic clients. We offer homebirth, waterbirth, and, of course, birth center births. We attend between 8-10 births per month (sometimes more, rarely less). We currently employ two midwives whom share a call schedule and 1-2 apprentices that also share on-call time.

We strive to always have dedicated, stable, long term (at least two year) apprentices within our practice. We are committed to training the next generation of midwives through the apprenticeship model which means we have always taken PEP students; however, we are open to MEAC students as well.

We highly value continuity of care and strictly adhere to the Midwives Model of Care. What this means for any potential student is that our practice is not a place to simply “get numbers” but a place to become a midwife. You will be given more and more hands- on experience and “catch” babies once you have integrated into the team and developed relationships with clients. This does not mean that you will simply observe things though! We are a busy practice and consider apprentices as an integral part of running things. You will quickly be able to “get your hands dirty” and jump right in! It’s just that we so highly value our mother’s experiences that we will NEVER compromise that in order to satisfy an apprentices desire to get signatures.

Misty Ward, owner, clinical director, and midwife, is a NARM approved preceptor and will be responsible for sign -offs while at Brookhaven. However, apprentices will also work closely with other midwives in the practice and are encouraged to seek guidance from those midwives as well. Misty holds a monthly apprentice meeting where apprentices can share what they are learning; ask for clarity, process births, set goals and objectives and get NARM signatures. If there are grievances or tensions we will schedule a private meeting with those involved. These meetings are primarily for learning and relationship building.

Brookhaven’s preference is to have an apprentice with a significant amount of experience and study under her belt before joining our practice. However, if a student is committed to the process, willing to put a significant amount of effort in, and understands that midwifery training takes time we will consider “green” students.

Requirements:

High School Diploma or equivalent.

Current CPR and NRP certification.

A mobile phone, preferably a “smart” phone. (Droid, iPhone, etc.)

Your own car in good working order.

A GPS unit in your car! (Believe me; it’s vital!)

Reliable childcare.

Ability and willingness to be on call 24/7 during agreed upon times.

Be hard working, motivated, kind, compassionate, a team player, and dedicated!

Attendance at an approved workshop for birth assisting, basic skills and/or emergency skills (prior experience can take the place of this and will be based on each individual student’s experience)